Pakistan : Textile sector exports may go off target

The major industrial sector in Pakistan, textile is unlikely to reach exports target for year 2004-05. The Ministry of Commerce and Export Promotion Bureau had anticipated the target of textile exports about $9.2 billion after talks with textile stakeholders. The textile exports reach $830 million in the month of May 2005, depicting of elevation when matching to the exports of $782 million exports in April 2005 and 650 million dollars in May last year. An Export Promotion Bureau official informed that the textile exports are suspected not to cross the fixed hurdle of one billion dollars. The interim report of textile exports for the month of June would be available in next couple of days, he added. The EPB official explained that in 11 months of fiscal year 2005 the exports of cotton yarn, fabrics, apparel & clothing and made-up textile products have been substantial increased. Total exports climb by $12.72 billion in 11 months of last fiscal as against $10.87 billion in the same period of its previous fiscal year, indicating an total jump of $1.85 billion. Sources in textile industry informed that the factors behind the incredible rise are abolition of quotas and the increase in domestic cotton crop, besides decline of 40-50 percent in its costs, proved favourable for the domestic industry. However, Pakistani exporters has to face cutthroat competition with its other regional majors like China, India and Bangladesh, but the competitiveness and quality in yarn, fabrics, clothing, knitwear, bed linen has been enhanced the exports in last fiscal year.

Pakistan : Textile goods exports up 6.58% to $ 8.039bn

Textile products export for the country registered rise of 6.58 percent at $8.039 billion in the last fiscal against the exports of $8.568 billion in the previous fiscal year.

The export of cotton yarn down 3.42 percent, export of cotton cloth up 16.51 percent, knitwear exports up by 11.47 percent, bed wear exports up by 1.77 percent, towels exports up by 24.40 percent, tents and canvas products exports down by 12.40 percent, ready-made garments exports up by 11.60 percent, exports of art, silk and synthetics textiles down by 36.12 percent and textile made-ups registered an rise of 14.13 percent in the last fiscal 2004-05.

Raw cotton exports in the last fiscal stood at $129.015 million against $ 47.671 million indicating an rise of 133.54 percent over the previous fiscal year.

The export of tanned leather registered a increase of 17.73 percent reaching $296.319 million, up from over $251.693 million in the previous fiscal year.

However, leather exports recorded 18.53 percent in the last fiscal with exports of 491.102 million compared with the exports of $ 414.343 million in the previous fiscal year.

Pakistan : Knitwear exports have upper hand over Chinese quotas

Knitwear exporters of Pakistan draw advantage from substantial Chinese quotas in certain products.

Following a decline earlier in the year, knitwear exports accelerated during May.

Exports during September amounted to 7.033 million dozen, a year-on-year rise of 11.1 percent.

From January to September, exports of knitwear amount to 53.397 million dozen, a year-on-year drop of 7.6 percent. September exports were also a record for the month.

In the non-knit apparel segment, exports boosted up during the same period, reaching 56.7 percent to 29.812 million square meters.

Apparel exports from Pakistan show competitiveness in cotton apparel and have been winning market share from China in some products.

First ever Industrial Policy to be announced by year end

Present government has the honor to formulate first ever Industrial Policy, after a long time, to promote industrial sectors of the economy which will be announced in a couple of months. Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo, Federal Minister for Industries & Production said this while addressing the business community at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry. He said government was working on first ever comprehensive Industrial Policy for giving boost to this important sector of the economy in consultation with all stakeholders and accommodating their views and suggestions in the new policy. He asked the businessmen to give their proposals to make this policy more industry friendly. On this occasion, he announced that a Marble City will be set up in Islamabad in collaboration with Pakistan Stone Development Company (PASDEC), which will give a boost to local marble industry. He said government was giving priority attention to the promotion of SME sector which was considered engine of growth and a key source for job creation. He said SMEDA would be made more active to accelerate the pace of development of SMEs in the country. Dilating upon energy crisis, Manzoor Wattoo said government was working on different options for meeting the energy requirements of the country including wind, coal & gas etc. He said country was facing a shortfall of 3000 MW while due to fault at Mangla power station; this shortage had gone up to 4100 MW. However, he assured that by end of July, industry will face no loadshedding while country will get rid of this problem by December this year. Speaking on the occasion, Mian Shaukat Masud, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) highlighted business community issues. He said industry was in deep troubles due to multiple factors including power shortage, law & order situation, high interest rates and high production cost etc. He said Ministry of Industries & Production had a key role to play in creating an enabling environment for industrial growth. He said Pakistan, with a consumer market of 170 million people, abundance of raw materials, cheap labor and entrepreneurship, was endowed with all the requisites to climb the ladder of industrialization and all it needed was a conducive Industrial Policy to become a growing industrial country. He said large-scale manufacturing and textile sectors needed special packages for bringing them out of negative growth and government should work out such packages in consultation with business community to put industry on the path of growth. He said Islamabad was badly needed a new Industrial Estate as the existing Industrial Estates had saturated and sought the Minister’s help for accelerating the establishment of I-17 Sector Industrial Estate. He said despite earning good profits, banks were providing no soft terms loans to industrial sector and government should come forward to ensure easy loaning facilities and tax relief measures for struggling industries.

Textile exporters assured of implementing policy, LCCI

The Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Textiles Gul Mohammad Lot has said that the government would ensure implementation of the Textile Policy in letter and spirit as the textiles is the biggest export-earning sector. He was speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday. LCCI Vice President Faisal Iqbal Sheikh, former Chairman APTMA Punjab Akber Sheikh and Mohammad Ayub Skeikh also spoke on the occasion. The Chairman said that the steps were being taken to help strengthen textile sector, boost exports and create new jobs besides shoring up textile sector and fetching the much-needed foreign exchange. He said such measures would help capital-starved exporters to increase their exports, and help revert the declining trend in exports. He said that the government was taking all measures to remove regulatory bottlenecks in market access and improving information and communications technology. Gul Mohammad Lot said that the present government was also concentrating on bringing down the rate of markup and inflation to the single digit for the expeditious revival of the industrial sector. He, however, expressed his concern over the shortage of skilled labour and sought the private sector’s help to overcome the shortage. Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI Vice President Faisal Iqbal Sheikh said that for the past several years Pakistan had been multiple internal and external challenges and the only way to get out of this critical state of affairs is to regain the economic stability which can be achieved through the revival of the industrial sector, especially the export-oriented textile sector. The textile industry contributes 8.5% of the GDP and employs 38% of the workforce in the manufacturing sector. It is responsible for about 55% of total exports. Export of textile products has reached $ 10.62 billion in the year 2007-08 from $ 5.5 billion in the year 2003-04 i.e. an increase of $ 5.12 billion in value term or by 93% and it still have the potential to beat this rate of growth in future. The way international trade is evolving is neither free nor fair. There is continued downward pressure of unit prices of textile goods, while the raw material prices and cost of doing business are increasing drastically. Even though, Textile Industry of Pakistan is indeed passing through a very crucial juncture due to the prevailing socio-economic and political climate. The Textile sector is exposed to extreme competition after the phasing out of quota besides facing resistance from developed countries. To increase competitiveness and quality of products, textile industry requires investment in technology for meeting the new challenges. He said that over the last few years the textile sector had invested about $ 6.0 billion in modernization and higher value addition, but due to continuous rise in cost of doing business resulting from enhancement in the cotton prices, utilities, inflation and bank refinancing rate on exports, Pakistan is becoming uncompetitive and loosing share in the international market. He said that government needs to plan a strategy to identify and solve issues with a long-term perspective to meet the challenging tasks of the textile sector.

Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Man-made Fabric Manufacturers Should Be Provided Fibre at Chinese Rates

'Magical Wonder of Wooden Blocks': Fabric Block Printing

Bed spreads, drapes, curtains, cushion covers, shower curtains, table cloths, pillows, and valances, featured with floral sprays, and delicate patterns in hues of pleasant pastels, on fine cotton fabrics the exclusive craft of block printing. One gets into the sensational world of traditional flavor with a blend of modern aesthetic feeling with hand block printed home furnishings.

This is a 2000-year-old craft. Originated and developed in China, the earliest example of block printing is the copy of the Diamond Sutra of 868 AD. Block printing is a technique by which carved wooden blocks are coated with dye and are repeatedly pressed on a length of cloth to create beautiful patterns. Traditional block prints were preferred greatly by the Mughal Emperors. This is unique in its own way that every piece of fabric is exclusive from other ones, which is not possible for machine printing.

Block printing skills are passed through many generations, and are the livelihood of many families. The design is traced on the woods surface. This process enables much artistic freedom, and inclusion of pictures. The wood is then chiseled to the depth of an inch. Small holes are drilled in the areas meant for flat color. They are stuffed with cotton at the tie of printing to ensure even application of color.

Articles about textile industry

Cut Resistance Behaviour of Fibres
By  : Dr. C. Rameshkumar & Dr. N. Anbumani

 cut resistant fabrics are made with polymeric and non polymeric high performance fibres such as high tenacity polyester, nylon, loyotropic polymer fibres, gel spun fibres and thermotropic liquid crystal polymer fibres. New products are also made with core and wrapped yarns by suitable combination of specialty fibres and yarns in different fabric weaves.

There is a continuing need for fabrics that resist cuts and abrasions, which occur when a sharp edge of a knife, a tool having a sharp edge or items having sharp edges are encountered. Cut resistant fabrics are particularly useful for making protective clothing such as gloves used in meat cutting industry and for handling metal/glass articles, in manufacture of sports wear, in automobile upholstery and for packaging materials.

Cut resistant fabrics are made with polymeric and non polymeric high performance fibres such as high tenacity polyester, nylon, loyotropic polymer fibres, gel spun fibres and thermotropic liquid crystal polymer fibres. New products are also made with core and wrapped yarns by suitable combination of specialty fibres and yarns in different fabric weaves.

The level of cut resistance provided by the reinforcing yarns depends on the way in which they are incorporated in the textile substrate. With regard to many different fabric manufacturing techniques available, a large number of alternatives for developing cut resistant textiles are feasible.

Cut resistance is the property demonstrated by a material or combination of materials, when a sharp-edged device initiates cut through. In general, there are two types of cut hazards: (1) Sharp edge cuts, such as knife blades and clean edge sheet glass and (2) Abrasive cut hazards; these include rough edge sheet metal, stamped or punched sheet metal, and rough edged sheet glass.

Pakistan-Textile Industry; Roundup: Pakistan's Government Solves Textile Crisis

Textile industry, the backbone of Pakistan's economy, accounts for 8 percent of the country's gross national product, 42 percent of total employment in large scale manufacturing and more than 60 percent of the country's total export receipts.
In the last three years, the textile industry confronted the most serious recession in decades.
The sharp fall in cotton output from 1991 to 1994, caused by cotton virus and floods, led to dramatic increases in cotton prices in the country.
The textile industry was hit hard by increasing power rates and high interest rates on commercial loans following ...

Textile Ministry finalizes draft of textile revival package

The Federal Textile Minister, Mr Farooq, yesterday announced that, the government has finalized the draft of the National Textile Revival Plan, which has been sent to the relevant stake holders for their comments.

Mr Farooq announced this, on the sidelines of a seminar on “Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers ”, hosted by the ,Association and added by saying that attending this seminar was part of government policy to seek recommendations from industry leaders.
Earlier while addressing the seminar, Mr Farooq said that, the State Bank of Pakistan had started accepting R&D claims, the payment for which may begin, early next week. He also revealed that the government had allowed import of five year old machinery, as suggested by the industry trade bodies.
Three more of these type of seminars will be held in Faisalabad and Sialkot and the final one at the President’s residence. The minister said that the government was keen to solve the problems of the sector and this seminar had been organised on the recommendations of the President, himself he disclosed.